


Little Blonde In A Union Jack

by KittooningMalijah



Series: Of the TARDIS and Baker Street [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Post-Doomsday, and emotions, lots of feels, no i'm not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-23 18:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1575404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittooningMalijah/pseuds/KittooningMalijah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ten, Jack, and Lily miss Rose. A series of one-shots (mostly) in chronological order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Christmas

The holiday was usually filled with laughter and friends and the occasional rogue pine needle. Their group had been small, but it had been more than just a Time Lord, a former Time Agent, and a two year old; and the gift pile used to be more than just a bag and two envelopes on a coffee table. Everything about the holiday was smaller, and the two people in the room who could remember all too clearly how things used to be were struggling to stay as cheery as possible for the sake of the young blonde on the couch.

Of the four Christmases that the Doctor had spent with the Tyler family, Jack had been present for three of them. His first holiday with them had been because he insisted on not getting left behind again, not surprisingly, and he happened to fit all too easily into the dynamic that had been created; the second year was because they spent the week with the Ponds; and the third year had been Lily's first Christmas - something that no one wanted to miss.

They hadn't originally planned on spending this year together, at least not until Canary Wharf. 

Losing Rose like that had been tough for everyone, more so for the man who had to attempt to explain to a then one year old daughter that she would never truly know her mother. It had been stressful, to say the least, and Lily had been too young to really understand what he was saying in the first place, which meant he'd have to go through that explanation again when she's older. And he was most definitely not looking forward to it.

"Can I heaw a stowee, Unca Jack?"

The small voice drew them out of their thoughts and the ex-Time Agent in question sat down on the couch beside his "niece" with a small, somewhat forced smile. "Of course you can, and I know just what story I can tell you." With that, he reached out to grab the gift bag he'd put on the coffee table not five minutes earlier, holding it so that she can't see inside. "The first time I met your mom was back when your dad was all big ears and leather, and-"

"Is it befo' da Big Bad Woof stowee?

Neither of the men on either side of her were able to hold back the slightest of smiles and the Doctor pulled his daughter into his lap with a nod as Jack continued his story. "Yes, this is before the Big Bad Wolf story, and if you listen to the story all the way through, you get to open your Christmas present." She quickly covered her mouth with her hands, only partially hiding an excited grin. "When I first met your mother, she was holding onto a war balloon up high in the sky, and I saved her. Do you know what she was wearing when I found her?" The young girl shook her head, her blonde hair bouncing a bit with the movement as Lily tried to lean forward to get a better look when her uncle started to pull something out of the red and green bag. "A Union Jack shirt."

The bundle he pulled out was red and blue and white, unfolding after escaping the confines of its package to reveal the pattern of the material. The quilt was thick enough to keep someone warm, and big enough to last the young blonde with excited brown eyes until adulthood. "Like the flag!"

As the quilt was passed over, Jack couldn't help but hesitate for a moment at the look in his older friend's eyes. The Doctor was staring at the blanket with an almost empty gaze, his shattered expression forcing the human in front of him to think quickly. "You know what, Lily? Why don't you go put your new quilt away in your room?" She didn't think about the sudden request before leaping from her fathers lap to walk down the short hallway, the gift trailing on the ground behind her.

Almost simultaneously, the two remaining people in the room reached for the envelopes on the coffee table, hesitantly passing them between each other in an awkwardly silent exchange.

Jack opened his first, pulling out the dark chord and watching the key swing once it was free of the yellow envelope. It didn't take three guesses to figure out what it went to, and he wasn't about to comment on it and make things even more awkward than they already were. No matter how significant the TARDIS key was, there was still one last gift to be opened before the tone of the room could change. "I just thought," he started as the Time Lord pulled open the envelope in his hand and pulled out the single sheet from inside. "I got Lily something to remember Rose by..."

The paper was a photograph, taken by Jack himself at some party they'd been at the night Rose announced she was pregnant with Lily. The Doctor's messy hair had been made messier by his tie around his head - something that had occurred between his third and seventh drink - and he had a banana daiquiri in one hand with his other arm around Rose's shoulders, glasses somewhat askew. Rose looked more amused than anything else at the rare look, her eyes seeming to twinkle with intoxication, although not from alcohol. She'd been drinking water and virgin piña coladas all night long, but that look was definitely intoxication. There was no mistaking that she was in love with the man next to her.

* * *

 

When Jack Harkness wandered out toward the kitchen for a glass of water only a few hours after Lily had been tucked into bed, he stopped in the small living room in surprise. There, on the couch, was the Doctor - asleep with the Union Jack quilt as a make-shift pillow and the photograph clutched tightly in the hand that was hanging off the edge of the cushions.

Silently, he went about getting a drink before walking back out to carefully pull the picture from the Time Lord's grasp so that it didn't get ruined at some point in the night. Otherwise, he left his friend alone so he could get some much needed sleep.


	2. Mummy

The house was a mess, Jack was going to be there in an hour, and the fraying quilt that a five year old Lily pulled around with her only served to create a trail of dust on the hardwood floors behind her. "Daddy?"

It was clear that the Doctor was stressed, papers for work strewn across his desk - all spring holiday was was an excuse for kids to party and professors to spend a week grading papers. Not that he'd been working - no, work and cleaning and making the guest room up for Jack had been the last things on his mind. He'd been staring at the smaller sheet on top of his pile for work, the photograph he'd dug up from the drawers of his desk while searching for a pen. Lifting his gaze away from the snapshot, the Time Lord let it fall on his daughter in the doorway. "Yes, lovey?"

"Do I have a mummy?" The question left him speechless, which left the silence to be filed with Lily explaining the sudden inquiry. "All of my friends have mummies, and Tony lives with Auntie Amy because she's his mummy, and mummies all get their own day. Do I have a mummy?"

Silence followed her question again and he slowly lowered himself from his chair to sit on the ground. The young blonde passed her quilt over when her father extended a hand for it and found her familiar spot on his lap. "You remember your Uncle Jack's story from when he gave you this, don't you?" When she shook her head, the Doctor let out a sigh. "You  _do_ have a mummy, Lillian, but she had to leave when you were very little."

Lily's voice was quiet when she spoke, the short pause giving away just how difficult it was for her to understand the situation. "Where did she go? When is she coming back?"

"She can't come back." This is the one story he always avoided, more for the sake of his sanity than anything else, and he'd succeeded in putting it off for years. "She ended up on the other side of a wall, and there's no doors left open for her to get back through."

They were both quiet for a moment before her small voice broke through the still air. "Daddy? Do you miss my mummy?"

"Yes, Lily... I miss your mummy very much."

* * *

 

The strangest things happened with that family in the middle of the night. When they still had Rose, before she was even pregnant, Jack couldn't have counted the number of times she and the Doctor had snuck out of the TARDIS to look up at the stars or dance in the middle of the street with no music. Then there were the weekly midnight snacks when Lily came into the picture, and the Christmas that the Doctor slept on the couch in the old flat. This night, however, might have been the strangest.

"Mummy? Mummy, where are you? Mummy?"

The voice wasn't even trying to stay quiet in the dark house and the sound of knocking on plaster that followed each call was just as loud, carrying up the stairs and down the hall to the door of the guest room where he was staying. When he got up and opened the door to investigate, he found himself face to face with a Time Lord who looked like he was about ready to have a double heart attack.

"Mummy!"

With the door open, the voice from downstairs sounded different. It was easy to hear how it broke like a sob while drawing out the sound of the vowel. It was easier still to hear the sheer desperation in the single word. And it didn't take long at all for them to figure out who the small voice belonged to.

Jack followed his friend down the stairs quickly and they stopped before reaching the bottom when they saw the small bundle curled up against the opposite wall. Lily's blonde hair stuck out wildly from how she had the quilt wrapped around her and her eyes were red from the tears she was still crying. "I knocked on all the walls. I was trying to find mummy, but she's not on the other side of any of them... I wanted to get mummy back so you don't miss her anymore..."

 


End file.
